Bright Eyes
by Turb0fluff
Summary: You can't undo what you did in the past, but you can always strive to become a better person in the present and have a bright future. Cover art by zaffre7.
1. Chapter 1

_Genes and family may determine the foundation of the house, but time and place determine its form._

Jerome Kagan._  
_

Diet Cola Mountain. Warm, dark, secluded. Illuminated only by the molten liquid within, and a small amount of sunlight from the top that had recently been blown off.

People rarely visited here.

The air began to shimmer. Pixels moved towards one point, forming a blocky mass. They fluttered around each other, looking for a space to squeeze themselves into.

Having inserted his code into the game manually, he would stay. Almost like a parasite. A leech. Sucking the life force from a game that was not his own, as it unknowingly resurrected the very person almost responsible for it's destruction.

Eventually, the mass became vaguely spherical, or as spherical as a lump of glowing data blocks could get. A soft humming could be heard as most of the blocks settled into place.

And thus, the mass began to take on a slightly more human form. But it wasn't complete. He came back too young. Too weak.

Considering its job done, the respawn system dumped the individual on the ground, expelling its code from the system.

If he were to perish again, he would not be brought back.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 1: Discovery

Vanellope sighed as she ran her hand through her candy-coated hair, being a president was tough.

"Bill, if anyone asks for me, tell them I'm out on presidential business!" she called to her assistant, smiling as she said the last words. Though it was tough work, it was nice to be important instead of being the outcast. It still made her feel just a bit giddy.

She hopped into her kart and started it up, a puff of colourful sparkly dust shooting out of the straws on the sides before the vehicle shot off in the direction of Diet Cola Mountain. She wasn't sure why she was headed there, she just felt like she needed to see her former home one last time. Like it was calling to her. Or something. Whatever.

The rush of wind against her face was amazing. To her, it was the best feeling in the world. She sped up as she approached the two crossed sugar-free lollipops that signalled the entrance into the sugarless volcano. The president and her car skidded to a stop, and the candy coated girl jumped out.

Wow. The damage done to the mountain in order to form the make shift beacon was still having an effect, even to this day. She watched as a stray mentos fell from the damaged edges of hole blown through the top of the mountain. As per her usual luck, none of the splash hit her. However, she was not testing her luck and decided to wait until the eruption had stopped before making her way to her old shelter. The president sighed as she sat down on her old spongecake bed, smiling at its familiar softness.

However, her smile turned into a frown as another mentos fell from the top of the mountain. She shielded her face with her arm as the boiling hot soft drink splashed around her.

"...Why the heck did I come here again?" Vanellope questioned herself out loud as the sound of fizzing died down. With the background noise subdued, the candy haired racer thought she could hear something else. She cocked her head to side, trying to figure out what the sound was.

It sounded like someone was having trouble breathing, hindered by choking and hiccupping. Occasionally, the mystery individual would let out a soft whimper.

Someone was crying.

Vanellope got to her feet, surveying the area for whoever was making that sound. "H-hey.. Who's there?" She called out.

The sound got significantly quieter, as though whoever was crying was trying desperately not to be spotted.

And then another mentos fell from the top of the mountain. As the liquid fiery death shot up towards the top of the mountain once more, Vanellope could almost hear a faint shriek of alarm, and as the fizzing one again died down, the faint crying had turned into full on hysterical sobbing. She was able to pinpoint the location now, and eventually found a small lump, wrapped in a candy wrapper blanket obviously stolen from Vanellope's old makeshift home.

"Hey, take that off-" she said as she reaches for the edge of the wrapper and removes it from the individual so she can get a better look at their face, but the moment she sees those faintly glowing, yellow eyes that she knows too well, she screams.

He screamed too, flinching backwards.

"YOU!" she yelled, her fear and surprise turned rage. "Don't think you can trick me, I know who you are-"

The golden eyed boy whimpered and shielded his face, and it was then that Vanellope noticed the nasty burn on his wrist. The small boy was injured, and on top of that he was giving her the kind of look you'd give a giant racer-eating monster.

Pure fear.

Oh.

Vanellope felt an awful prickling in her stomach. Guilt. She felt sorry for the tiny Turbo.

He was small, with a head of scruffy raven hair that had a faint red sheen when light hit it just right. He wore a red t-shirt and gray track pants. His skin was a chalky white, opposed to the sickly gray she had seen on him before. Oh, and his eyes glowed.

"I... Hey...Guy, it's ok-" she attempted to calm him, gently reaching out to him. But once again, he flinched away. It was only when what was probably the last remaining mentos fell and once again caused an eruption that the boy shot forward, arms wrapped around Vanellope's waist, sobbing into her jumper. He was terrified.

"Shh... Shh... It's ok. I won't hurt you, lil guy..." she said softly, stroking his hair. "C'mon, I'll take you back to the castle.." she said, gently taking hold of the small boy's uninjured wrist and attempting to glitch in the direction of her new home, as she didn't want to risk having the boy hold on the back of her kart. However, all she managed to do was flicker for a moment. Something here was preventing her from being able to simply speed along as pure data.

She gave a heavy sigh. "Welp, I guess we'll have to walk..." but the boy looked like he was struggling to stay awake. His eyes were even rolling back as he blinked. Vanellope groaned in exasperation. "I guess you're gunna get a piggyback from the president then."

"Bill! Hey Billy-Boy! Could you do me a favour and get some dinner ready? Or tell the chefs to do it? Or whatever you do when you get me dinner? I'm starving!" Vanellope called as she opened the door to the castle, half out of truth and half to keep her assistant busy so he didn't see the young racer on her back.

"Right away, Miss President." He mumbled in his usual dead-pan grumpy tone.

With him out of the way, Vanellope smiled and bounced the boy gently to wake him up. He had fallen asleep, leaning on her back, which was currently aching from carrying him for so long. "Aye, headlights! We're here."

However, she didn't force him to get off her as she made her way to the bathroom. "Ay yi yi, you're heavy! What're you made of? Dark matter?" she chuckled at her own joke, but the boy mumbled what sounded like an apology, which made her frown.

"Hey, it was just a joke, no hard feelings."

She had intended to take the boy in simply to keep an eye on him, make sure he didn't cause any trouble. And probably lock him in the fungeon if he did cause any trouble. But right now, she couldn't help but feel as though it was her duty to be a babysitter for the boy.

Once they had reached the bathroom, she gently set him on the floor and went to the medicine cabinet. She picked out some bandages and some burn cream. Although it was best to run burns under cold water immediately after receiving them, she didn't know how long ago he had injured himself. So she simply decided to at least reduce the pain for now and have someone look at it later, after the boy had some much needed rest.

"This is gunna hurt a bit, but just tough it out. You're gunna be fine." She said as she gently took hold of his arm, turning it over to get a clear view of the burn. It wasn't anything close to 2nd degree, but it still looked painful.

The boy bit his lower lip as Vanellope gently spread the burn cream over the wound, the contact causing him to tear up a bit. He hissed quietly to himself but didn't pull away. Vanellope began thinking to herself as she applied gauze and bandages. Would the real Turbo allow himself to be treated like this? No, of course not. He probably wouldn't let her near him, kid form or not. So... who was this? A look-alike? A beta design? Or maybe his memory was corrupted? Regardless, she couldn't help but think that this boy was innocent. He was scared and hurt, and she wasn't going to leave him to fend for himself. No. She knew what being alone felt like, and wouldn't wish it on anyone, even if the boy did turn out to be Turbo.


	3. Chapter 3

Author's Note: Wow! I'm just shocked at how much positive attention my story's getting! Thanks so much you guys, also I'm sorry for taking so long with this chapter, we moved my writing computer from the den into my bedroom and that took a while.

Also, a few of you have been asking how old our lil' Kiddo is meant to be. Well, I didn't set on a specific age but I see Vanellope as a 12 year old (because she's a princess/president, it'd be really cute to have a 12 year old president leading a bunch of nine year olds. Hah.) But I know a lot of people headcanon her to be 9 like the other racers.

Baby Turbs is one year younger than Vanellope. I'll let the readers decide what age that is.

Chapter 2: a racer by any other name

Is still just as tu- fantastic. Yeah. Fantastic.

Soon after Vanellope brought the small boy to bed, he had fallen into a deep sleep, preventing her from asking any of the questions that buzzed around her mind. Not soon after, she had succumb to her own tiredness as well. She could eat extra breakfast in the morning, her tiredness outweighed her hunger.

However it was morning now, and the small boy had began gently nudging vanellope's shoulder in an attempt to wake her up.

"Um.. M-miss president..?" He asked, his voice soft and unsure.

"Mmwhat?" Vanellope grunted as she rubbed sleep out of her eyes, still tired from yesterday's escapades.

"Am I.. G-gunna have to leave now?" he asked, stuttering not only out of nervousness but what seemed like an actual problem with pronouncing words.

"Whaaat? No, of course not." She said with a yawn, stretching her arms as she sat up. "What made you think that, lil guy?"

"I-I thought... You didn't like me. Because when you first saw me youwereangryandyouyelledand-" it seemed like the kid had switched from slow stutter mode to verbal overdrive! It wasn't long before president Vanellope von Schweetz had silenced him by gently placing her index finger over his lips, the universal signal for quiet.

"I just... Thought you were someone else, ok?" she smiled. "Don't worry, I don't hate ya. In fact, I barely know you!" she patted her bed next to where she was sitting. "Sit down, I gotta ask you a couple a questions."

"So... You can't remember where you lived, how old you are, who your friends are..." this wasn't looking good. But at the same time, it was a good sign, if he couldn't remember anything about king candy, going turbo or trying to kill her, then there was a chance that this boy actually had nothing to do with turbo and it was all a big coincidence.

"...Do you remember your name?"

And it was with that question that the raven haired boy burst into tears.

"Woah, woah! Kid, calm down!"

He hiccupped and wheezed, crying in the same fashion that he was when she found him. "I don't—remember—" he hiccupped and coughed "Anythii-hii-hiiingg! I thought you'datleast know whoiwas, but you don't, nobodydoes, and-andand-"

Vanellope didn't realize what she was doing until she had embraced the young boy, and was stroking his back. "Shhh... Shhh... Everything's going to be ok. You're ok. You're ok." She soothed, and the boy's crying died down to a quiet whimper.

Vanellope was surprised at how often the boy cried. Then again, she couldn't blame him, after all he had probably woken up in a strange place and then gotten hurt almost instantly, on top of the fact that he had no idea who he was, where he was or why he even existed. If he did turn out to be Turbo, this was either the game world's way of punishing him, or giving him another chance to redeem himself.

"Hey, everything'll be ok, okay?" she reassured him, continuing only after the promise earned she small nod from the one she was currently attempting to calm. "We can't just call you kid, though. You need a name..." she pondered, allowing her arms to drop away from the hug so she could scratch her head. She didn't want to call him Turbo, because that was just tempting fate. "I'm not gunna name you somethin' weird like headlights or marshmallow... That'd just be mean." Only after she said it did she notice him tear up once more. "Ah nonono, kid, I don't mean it like that! Your eyes are great! Erhh—" she thought frantically for a moment, "Like stars!"

He sniffled. "R-really..?"

"Yeah, c'mon Bright-Eyes, turn that frown upside down! Wait..." she smiled as an idea dawned upon her. "Bright Eyes! That's what we'll call you! Lil' Bright! How does that sound?"

"I... I like that name..." he smiled.

"Great! Bright eyes it is. Now you stay here while I go and fetch us some breakfast."

It had taken about half an hour of unsuccessful negotiation before Vanellope resorted to pulling rank on her assistant.

"Bill, I forbid you from telling ANYONE about Bright. There WILL be consequences." She said sternly, hands on her hips. "And don't you DARE call him you-know-who." The young one's eyes narrowed dangerously. "_Understand?_"

The sour candy ball known as Bill was surprised at just how intimidating Vanellope looked. She had the same fire in her eyes that you would see in a mother wolf protecting her pups. He opened his mouth to say something back there came a faint voice from the doorway out of the room.

"Um.. are you... fighting about m-me...?" Bright asked, peeking from around the corner of the doorway, his golden eyes glowing slightly in the shade cast by the arch of the frame. His chalk white face wore an expression of worry. He had only been able to catch the very end of the conversation, and therefore was unsure of the topic. But he had a feeling it might have been him.

"No way, sweety! We weren't even fighting. We were just discussing some things." She shot a look at the candy ball. "Weren't we, Bill?"

"Yes Ms President." He replied, back to his deadpan unimpressed tone, per the usual.

"Um... Then... Can we have breakfast now?"

"Good idea. Billy-boy, go and ask the chef to make us some oatmeal."

They ate in Vanellope's bedroom, as she didn't want anybody to see bright just yet. At first he was hesitant, but after his first spoonful of the honey flavoured oats, he was pretty much shovelling it into his mouth. Vanellope smiled at this, no wonder he was so eager to eat, it was probably the first meal he's ever had.

But that smile turned to a frown. The boy's extremely pale complexion could be ignored, but his eyes were a glaring reminder of a certain someone. She needed to find a way to mask them. Then she remembered something.

Turbo's King Candy disguise had a set of yellow goggles. They might be enough to hide Lil Bright's eyes, making it seem as though it was just the colour of his goggles and not his eyes themselves.

But first, she'd need to find them. When was the last time the phony king was seen wearing them? Would they still even exist?

Hm. She'd have to go looking for them.


End file.
